Measures of Language Proficiency in Censuses and Surveys by Pádraig Ó Riagáin

Author:Pádraig Ó Riagáin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

1. Native speaker ability

3.3

2. Most conversations

11.0

3. Parts of conversations

18.7

4. Few simple sentences

24.1

5. The odd word

23.7

6. No Irish

19.1

Source: Darmondy and Daly (2015), p. 64

The six-point CILAR scale runs from zero (‘no Irish’) to complete fluency (native speaker). The response options between ‘no Irish’ and ‘native speaker’ reflect the ‘can do’ principle used widely in language assessment and testing – i.e. ‘language proficiency can be described in terms of what things people can do and how well they can do them’ (italics added) (Jones and Saville 2008, p. 502). Thus for example, the respondent with low levels of speaking proficiency skills is asked to consider his/her skills in terms of the ability to speak the ‘the odd word’, ‘a few simple sentences’ or handle ‘parts of conversations’. However, vague quantifiers are not altogether avoided. As the scale moves towards more advanced levels of proficiency, the response categories are more vaguely defined and the distance between the levels is more ambiguous. This is perhaps unavoidable. Even in formal language tests distinguishing between levels of performance ‘…..becomes less and less easy to do as the learner progresses’ (Davies 2008, p. 489).

When a question incorporating this scale was used in a national survey in 2013 (Table 3.4), just two thirds (66.5%) of respondents chose one the three options with ‘can do’ labels. Even when presented with an option labeled ‘the odd word’, one fifth (19%) still selected the ‘no Irish’ option, while 14% chose the two highest ranked options which were more vaguely defined. This latter feature is the most significant difference between the bipolar example described above, and unipolar scales.Table 3.4Surveys using the CILAR unipolar multi-choice response format in selected Republic of Ireland surveys: 1973–2013

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